Update on the ruined cottage at Barley

[Wiggy]

Maybe your ruined farmhouse will appear on Grand designs soon Maggie - not the one you've excavated - tho other one recently bought!     then we will be able to see what a 'job' they make of it!

[Maggie.]

Now that would be interesting wouldn't it?

However I must go to bed ..... g'night.

[Lal]

Lifted from Wikipedia

The area is now popular with ghost hunters after Living channel's show Most Haunted visited the hill for a live investigation on Halloween 2004.[2] The show's presenter, Yvette Fielding, said it was the scariest episode they had made to date, and it is still widely considered to have been the scariest of the entire series.

Actually they didn't visit the hill, they visited 2 farms.

The entire valley still talks about it, Mo    

I saw the programme - I have to say it was all very silly, and I'd watched it hoping to learn some more about the Pendle Witches. The recent Simon Armitage programme made up for this though. It's also the anniversary of the trials next year so no doubt that would attract more people in to get up to whatever they get up to.

The bread ovens interested me because they wouldn't be a feature in many houses at all, especially back then (bread was more often baked communally or in a pot over the fire, like traditional soda breads now), so this must have belonged to a rich or important family. Could it possibly have been a hunting lodge? Not sure which estate it would have fallen under - the Lords of Bowland?

[mosiefish]

Lifted from Wikipedia

The area is now popular with ghost hunters after Living channel's show Most Haunted visited the hill for a live investigation on Halloween 2004.[2] The show's presenter, Yvette Fielding, said it was the scariest episode they had made to date, and it is still widely considered to have been the scariest of the entire series.

Actually they didn't visit the hill, they visited 2 farms.

The entire valley still talks about it, Mo    

For those still awake just google "Tynedale farm most haunted" and "Lower Well Head Farm Most Haunted"

night all,


Mo

[Lal]

The cat in the wall intrigues me - not least because I have cats and I love folklore.

I found a story on the BBC news site from 2009 about a cat being found in the lath walls of a Devon cottage and the opinion is that it was put there to ward off bad luck. I won't link as it has a photo of said poor moggie, but it's easy to find if you are interested. I also found another site (again with some quite unpleasant photos) which states there have been over a hundred instances on record (discounting those not recorded) of cats being found in walls. One claim is they may have been set there to scare off mice - and again, the suggestion that they could have been there for protection.

So one thing you can say for certain if the cat was put there deliberately - it does not signify it was the cottage of a witch! Was the cat found in the doorway itself? Because there's a lot of superstition around thresholds - and going back to boggarts, that's where they were supposed to like to live in a house.

Anyway, the photos are fab. I'm due a trip to Pendle soon, not been there in years

[Ruskie]

now seeing these photos I think I belong in Yorkshire.

You're asking for trouble Ruskie - it's in Lancashire. 

I think from what Maggie said in the first post it has to be demolished because of the reservoir and flooding.

oops.  WIth the talk of Settle and Hebden Bridge I thought the farmhouse was in Yorkshire ... 
Gosh, sorry all -I've probably offended the population of two counties in one small sentence. 

[Deb D]

I saw the programme - I have to say it was all very silly, and I'd watched it hoping to learn some more about the Pendle Witches. The recent Simon Armitage programme made up for this though. It's also the anniversary of the trials next year so no doubt that would attract more people in to get up to whatever they get up to.

Ever so slightly off topic, ... but the few episodes of "Most Haunted" that I've seen were hardly scary, even for me with a fear of ghosties!  In fact, there've been a couple of eps that have had me laughing so hard I was in tears and got a stitch.  "Silly" doesn't seem anywhere near a strong enough word, but I'll bite my tongue on what I could have called it.

Haven't seen the Simon Armitage programme, however - any idea on which network/channel might I find replays (on the opposite side of the planet, but with Foxtel)?

Back on topic, though ... loving this thread, Maggie!  Please keep it up! 

[mare]

Keeping up with it too, Maggie ... ( since the skype prompt over weekend  ) ... a very interactive thread with the photographs posted along with the information and interesting questions.... wonderful!!

great scenic photos in that 'Old Pendle' folk song link too, Su ...

  mare

[Maggie.]

One claim is they may have been set there to scare off mice - and again, the suggestion that they could have been there for protection.

So one thing you can say for certain if the cat was put there deliberately - it does not signify it was the cottage of a witch! Was the cat found in the doorway itself? Because there's a lot of superstition around thresholds - and going back to boggarts, that's where they were supposed to like to live in a house.

To answer Lal - the archeaologist, who confirmed that it had been 'placed' rather than crawled in and died, said that there were instances of dead cats being positioned in walls facing nose to nose with a dead mouse as though about to catch it.  Presumably this was to deter the mouse population ...... or the cat population?  He said the cat was Victorian and one would imagine by then the fear of evil abounding in Pendle had abated a little.  Having said that, it is a country district and villagers would have held on to old memories for a long time.  The cat was found at shoulder height in a bricked-up doorway - they found it when they opened up to doorway.

I don't live in Barley, I'm in an equally small village nearby.  In the external wall of the house of my neighbour is a stone lintol over what was once a small doorway but is now built up.  In this lintol is a small circular hole that goes all the way through the stone.  Supposedly it was put there so that any evil spirits could get out.  My rather sceptical and analytical OH does not believe this!!